A pilot study of a hand-held camera in a busy burn centre: Prediction of patient length of recuperation with wound temperature

• We evaluated a hand-held infrared camera in a busy regional burn centre.
• The thermal camera was useful in an initial prognosis of treatment length.
• The difference in burn temperatures values and either core or healthy skin temperature suggests healing in >21 days.
• A hand-held thermal camera might help less experienced clinicians in decision making.

AimThe aim of our study was to evaluate temperature differences of burns looking at their prognostic ability to predict healing at the 21 day mark.Materials and methodThirty two burns in 26 patients aged 1–71 years old were photographed with a FLIR T650 camera. Environment, reflected, and body core temperature of the patients were measured. Skin emissivity was constant 0.98. Pictures were analyzed with R&D FLIR Software. Minimal and average burn temperatures and skin temperature in 255 pixel squares were measured. Patients were divided into healed and not healed groups. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 20 (IBM Armonk, USA) and p < 0.05 was significant.ResultsThere were 25 healed and 7 non-healed burns at 21 days. Healed burns were significantly warmer than non-healed burns (p < 0.05). There was a statistically significant strong, negative correlation between the difference of minimal burns temperatures and healthy skin temperatures with days needed to heal the burns (p = 0.001; rho = −0.564).ConclusionInfrared camera seems to be useful equipment in predicting burns’ healing time. However further clinical studies need to be done.